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Carla Santos
Carla Santos was one of the presenters at the Sapora Symposium in November.

Carla Santos Named Fellow of The Academy of Leisure Sciences

Recreation, Sport and Tourism department head Carla A. Santos was named a fellow of The Academy of Leisure Sciences.

Santos is one of two fellows named to TALS for the 2020 voting class, along with Dr. Brijesh Thapa of the University of Florida.

The Academy of Leisure Sciences, or TALS, was founded in 1980 with its central purpose as the intellectual advancement of leisure sciences. TALS began with 30 fellows and now counts 155 fellows, including 135 active.

TALS Fellows are outstanding performers and recognized leaders in the leisure profession with a minimum of 10 years of experience. To be named a fellow, the candidate must be nominated by an active fellow and received a two-thirds majority vote by active fellows.

The annual TALS conference is being hosted by the University of Illinois, running Feb. 11-14. The conference will open with the J. J. Bannon Lecture on Feb. 11. It will be preceded by the conference of the China-International Leisure Research Association Feb. 10-11, and the Academic Leaders Retreat Feb. 11. For more information, visit the conference website.

Santos' research program is focused on the examination of communicative practices (from mass mediated narratives to the face-to-face dyad) as a means of addressing the socio-political and cultural impact of tourism on the world's people and cultures.

Santos earned her PhD from Penn State University and came to the University of Illinois as an assistant professor in 2002.

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